Location

Summary

A welcome addition to Magic Kingdom dining, Skipper Canteen breathes life into theme park dining with fresh flavors and fine service alike. The menu decidedly does not cater to simpler tastes, and aims higher than it can sometimes achieve, but any in-park restaurant that tackles dining head on by serving whole fried fish and head-on prawns is worth a shot. More than a year after opening, the restaurant’s adventurous menu has stayed largely intact, thanks to the ever-diversifying tastes of park guests.

Setting and Atmosphere

Posited as the home of off-duty Jungle Cruise skippers, Skipper Canteen offers guests an oasis from the theme park with three distinct dining rooms (and a boatload of corny jokes). The crew’s mess hall features high ceilings, dark wooden fixtures, and souvenirs collected from skippers’ travel bathed in stained glass window-tinted natural light. Behind a hidden bookcase (with highly-amusing book titles), guests can visit the secret meeting room of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, filled with posh fixtures, maps, and a beautiful collection of butterflies. The jungle room completes the dining set, with intimate seating near intricately wood-carved bookshelves and colorful stained glass lamps.

House Specialties

An eclectic menu features flavors from several world cuisines, with Asian influences in the shu mai, char siu pork (a house favorite), shiriki noodle salad, and the Korean-barbecue-inspired “Tastes Like Chicken” crispy fried chicken. South American influences samba into the grilled steak with chimichurri, as well as the house-made corn pancakes topped with mojo pork and avocado cream. The rich Kungaloosh chocolate cake with caramelized bananas will close out any meal with a smile.

Other Recommendations

Veggie-lovers rejoice at the curried veggie crew stew, a heartier vegetarian alternative to typical offerings. Skip’s Beefy Baked Pasta, an Egyptian take on lasagna, uses a familiar form to introduce guests to mildly-exotic flavors. Any dessert here is worth your time, with quality vanilla cakes with tropical flavors and a rice pudding with a zingy lemon curd. Even the kid’s menu satisfies across the board, especially with a chocolate lava cake or fun sunflower-seed coated chocolate dipped bananas.